Archive for July, 2013

Will this be the last time we get a chance to see the Armory in full glory? If the Mayor has his way, the Echo Bay development will swallow up most of the property as parking for the new apartment housing complex thereby making it all but impossible to readapt this one of a kind piece of New Rochelle history. They will essentially strangle the building preventing us, or anyone else by that matter, from creating a truly unique venue for this city and region.

There are a host of issues relating to this development both in it’s design and in it’s economic value. Plagued by criticism from a large cross section of interests, the case for postponement of the adoption of the FEIS becomes abundantly clear.

A packed house of over 220 people gathered at the East End Civic Association to voice their anger and challenge the unsubstantiated claims of a city wide benefit from the project. Being the most affected section of the city, the FEIS fails to address the concerns raised regarding the traffic along the Pratt St bypass of Stephenson Blvd and the accident rates at Pratt / Main St’s and Pratt/ Adams St’s. Foiled records for reported accidents showed accident rates exceeding one per year on average and yet there is no plan to mitigate the increased traffic of hundreds of cars descending on Echo Bay. The issue of school district burden has been negotiated in a fashion to favor the developer. Quality of life issues of the huge shadow cast over the neighborhood by the increased height of the buildings was summarily dismissed as not relative to the current plan. We were told that every issue raised would have to be addressed with evaluation and corrective measures or an appropriate explanation – neither of which was adopted.

The Armory will suffer death by a thousand cuts as it has it’s property chiseled away to provide Echo Bay parking. The lie that it is for “public use” is shattered with the premise that if you remove this “public use” parking, the project loses its access to its front door. A front door that appears to be within the approved distance to allow Monroe College to utilize the development as student housing. There is no protection in place to prevent this from happening.

New Rochelle’s very own Planning Board has filed serious concerns in a report dated March 28 that highlights what they believe is wrong with the project. (Does it bother anyone that this March report didn’t see the light of day until July? What’s up with that? )

Local polling on this site and others news outlets show overwhelming pushback to the project as currently proposed

As the Mayor hits the campaign trail and lauds the efforts of the talent pool that volunteered to help with the budget, he has no explanation for the failure to embrace the quantitive analysis by another local pool of professionals working over atEcho Bay Facts. This volunteer, bi partisan, diverse group of residents has essentially preformed a forensic audit of the numbers being touted by the developer and the Mayor. It just doesn’t add up!

Where does that leave us. D-Day. NOW, more than ever before, is your opportunity to make a difference by making your voice heard. Call the mayor, your council member and tell your neighbors about the death of a truly unique piece of New Rochelle history and the cost to taxpayers as we subsidize a multi billion real estate investment firm.

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